Advocacy

Advocacy is about supporting you to make sure that your rights are respected and your views and wishes are heard at all times.

The aim of advocacy is to make sure you are protected and your rights are met by providing an opportunity for your views to be listened to and properly considered. An advocate can provide support by:

giving you an opportunity to speak confidentially to someone who is independent

being with you when you have appointments or meetings

speaking up for you, if you want them to

giving you information about the different ways that you can raise your concerns

helping you to think about what you would like to achieve or want to change

What is an Advocate?

An advocate is someone who will come and meet you and find out what your wishes and feelings are. They will help you to start, change or stop something in your life. They can go with you to meetings, if you want them to, and help you to tell people what you want, or speak for you if you don’t want to.

An advocate will:

explain things to you so that you can make choices

take time to listen to your wishes and feelings

talk with you about what support you need to make your voice heard

tell you everything anyone has told them about you

get the information you need so that you can make the right choices

If I decide I want an Advocate, what do I do next?

If you want to know how we can help you can email the helpline or call them on 0808 808 1001.

You might hear people talking about your wishes and feelings a lot. This means that they are finding out what you would like to happen and how you feel about what is happening in your life. Whenever you have a review of your care you should be asked about your wishes and feelings and these will be listened to in your review and written down in your notes so everybody knows what you want when they are making any decisions/ changes to your care.

If you are unhappy with your advocate then please tell us. It would be helpful to let us know why you are unhappy. We will listen to what you say. If you decide you no longer want an advocate or would like someone else then contact us and tell us what you want.

What you talk about to your Advocate is private. They do not tell other people about what you say unless there is a very good reason to do so. If you tell your Advocate something that makes them think that you or another child may be harmed, then they will have to talk to someone else about it.